FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 319, 19 November 1879, Page 2

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

On Monday evening last the Hon. Major Atkinson prefaced his statement by the following general- remarks : _ The difficulties and dangers of the position into which we have permitted our finance to drift are admittedly so great, and the time a, the disposal ,of the Government has been so short and so broken that I feel confident I shall have the sympathy of hon. members when I ask the Committee for as favorable a consideration of the proposals I am about to submit, as may be found compatible with careful criticism and a full discussion of their merits.

_ Sir, I think that all those who have given any real thought to the question of our present financial condition must have come to the conclusion that it will be impossible to surmount our monetary difficulties and escape the dangers of our position without something like a complete remodelling of our finance, bothlocal and general, without careful administration by Ministers, and without the exercise of much thrift and self-denial on the part of all dasses of the community. The period of the session at which we have now arrived renders it impossible to properly consider the whole question of our finance this year. My unfitness for the responsible position I have the honor to hold would be at once msnifest if I were to pretend to be capable, in the short time I have been in office, of maturing and subnuttihg m detail so complete a financial policy as tho Government believe to be practicable and necessary. I shall, however, sir, endeavor to indicate clearly the general scope and direction of that polity, and to give what I hope the Committee will consider sufficiently full details of such parts of it as we think it is possible to deal with this session. But, first, it will be necessary that I should recall to the mind of the cimmittee our present financial position—a position, sir, unparalleled in the history of the colony-for with abundant natural resources, with excellent credit, and with an increasing ordinary revenue-notwith-standing great commercial depression—we find ourselves reduced to bucli a position as to cause the gravest anxiety to all true friends of the colony, and to necessitate important measures of financial reform involving large additional taxation.

PUBLIC DEBT. Our public debt on the 30th June last amounted to £23,222,311, treating the guaranteed debentures as practically isBued, and including Treasury Bills outstanding, of which £442,000 mature on Ist of March next in London, and will have to be re-issued; the annual charge for interest mid sinking fund in respect of this debt was £1,232,119. Since then we have issued deficiency bills to the amount of- £600,000, and when the loan of £5,000,000 is raised, our total gross debt will amount to £26,822,311; or deducting the accumulated sinking fund, our net public debt will be £27,113,304, subject to an annual charge of about £1,400.000 for interest, and £116,176 for sinkimfund, making together, £1,51G,17G-an annual burden requiring our most watchful attention, and one which can only be borne if our taxation is properly adjusted and our 'financial affairs managed with discretion. It may be gratifying to the committee to leavn, though the amount is small, that last year we redeemed out of accrued sinking funds debentures amounting to £71,000 ; of these, £58,000 represented the whole of the outstanding debentures issued under the Wellington Debts Act Amendment Act, 187G, Imd £13,000 represent a portion of those issued under the North Otago District Public Works Loan Act, 1872.

THE LOAN. The Government, sir, have reason to believe that not more than £3,000,000 of the £5,000,000 loan can be floated this year, that it will be twelve months before we can place the other £2,000,000, and that we cannot go upon the London market for two years afterwards. These facts will render the exercise of the utmost prudence necessary in the expenditure o c the balance of the loan yet available for appropriation by Parliament. This question will be fully treated of by my hon. colleague the Minister for Public Works when he makes his Public Works Statement,

PROPOSALS FOE EQUALISING EXPENDITURE AND INCOME IN FUTURE, The first point for decision is: Are the receipts from land sales to be retained in the Consolidated fund, and spent as ordinary revenue? Sir, the Government think that in the falling off in the land sales there is a very important lesson to be learnt, and that is, that the system of finance which we have been pursuing since the Land Fund was generalised in 18W- namely, that of relying upon the receipts from land sales as one of the chief items of our consolidated revenueis thoroughly unsound in principle, and should, sir, be abandoned at the earliest possible date, that date being not later than the end of March next, The receipts from land sales should, in the opinion of the Government, be chargeable with the expenses of the administration and survey of the land, and the balance scrupulously applied to public works, local and general, and to immigration.

DISCONTINPANCE OF LOCAL SUBSIDIES. I am one of those who thiuk it fair and reasonable that the State, as the State, should contribute towards the cost of keeping open and improving the means of communication throughout the country, and that it is altogether a mistake to suppose that by striking this item out of the Estimates the people of the colony will be relieved to that extent from taxation. To all those who have given any attention to local subjects it is well known Hint an amount equal to this large sum must be raised for local works, striking this item out of the Estimates will therefore be no real relief to to the country at We, nor will it leave more money in the Dockets of the settlers; but the question as to the fairest and easiest means by which the necessary amount can be raised is no doubt open to discussion, and is well worthy the serious attention of tin's House. The Goverment, however, have como to the conclusion, after careful consideration, that a better means than the present of raising this money can be devised, and they will therefore recommend that the subsidies next year should be discontinued. Should the House determine to retain them, taxation will have to be proportionately increased. NEW TAXES. . Honorable members will bear, in mind that I am now speaking of what I may csll the permanent deficit—that is, I am speaking of the probable position we should find ourselves in at the end of next year if the receipts from land sales and the expenditure upon land are eliminated from both sides of the account, and am not now making provision to meet the estimated deficiency of the current year. I therefore deduct thesubsidies, L275,G20, from the deficit of L819,6G9 already mentioned, and find that there remains to be provided for 1,544,049; and, this, sir, the

Government propose to mee( by the imposition of a property tax, the increase of the Customs and Stamp duties, and the release of sinking funds and interest by bringing the Consolidated Stock Act into operation. THE NEW TARIFF. i The articles upon which we propose to increase or impose duties are-Almonds and nuts, chaff, corks, dried fruits, fresh fruit other than oranges and lemons, window-glass, grain and flour, malt, split peas, hops, iron fencing, .tanks, jnatches and vestas, preserved milk, nails, perfumery, patent medicines, timber, salt, spirits, stearine, tobacco and cigars, wine, and all goods at present charged with ad valorem duty. The particulars of the duties proposed to be levied on these articles will be found in table 6 appended, ■the total amount they are estimated to produce is about L 300,000.

MERGING THE LAND TAX. Sir, the Government will ask Parliament to merge the land tax in the property tax which we intend to introduce, thus including land in the same category as all other property, making it equally but not specially liable to general taxation. WHAT. THE NEW TAX WILL PRODUCE. It is very difficult, with the data at my command, to estimate accurately what such a tax will produce. We know, however, that the valuation under the Land Tax Act gives £99,500,000 as the improved value of real property. It is estimated that the total personal property owned in the colony is not less than £18,700,000/ ™K » gross total of taxable property of ISP Deducting from this £5,000,000 on account of the £3OO exemptions we get £113,200,000 as the net taxable amount as far as it can now be estimated. I give this estimate with some diffidence, but I think I have rather under than over stated the sum which mil be subject to taxation. Taking thereore £113,200,000 as the sum liable to taxation, this at one penny in the pound, the amount the Government propose to ask for, will give £470,000 as the product of the property tax.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS. 1 Summarising, then, my proposals, they will stand thus: to be raised by property ax, £470,000: by Customs, L 300000; by stamps, L 16.000; making a gross increase to tlio revenue of 786,000; from winch, however, must be deducted the tTZ" 3 stated above amounting to tSS. to r ether vith the land tax ii147,d00, whichitis proposed to mer°e 111 the general property tax next yea", thus givmg a net increase of LG18.700 Hon. members will observe that I have not taken credit for any saving for interest or sinking f un( i my be , inscription of stock. W 0 may obtain some relief from this source during next year; but the uncertainty of this is so great that it would not be prudent to calculate upon it. I hope, however, when such relief comes, we shall be enabled to considerably reduce taxation, and as I have said before, I think we may look for tins relief at an early date. It is proposed, then, by these means to raise L 9 revenue; if this be added lo the revenue from present sources, estimated to amount, exclusive of land sales, to 1,2,945,900, we got L3,564,C00ns the total revenue for the year. J | le estimated expenditure I have taken as probably L3,489,919;rnd if we deduct tliis sum from the revenue, we arrive at an estimated surplus of L74.G51 J!rain these figures I think lion, memo's will see that the proposals of the Government, if they should meet with the approva of the House, will, without any reasonable doubt, equalisoour expenditure and income.

PROPOSED NEW DUTIES. Almonds in the aliell and nuts of ullkiuds except cocoanuts, 2d per lb. Chaff, 10a per ton. Corks, bottling, 15 per cent ad valorem. 1< raits, aned, 2d per lb. Fl'UijS, flesh, other than oranges, lemons, bananas, and pine apples, 15 per cent ad valorem. Glass, crown, sheet, and common window, A per 100 ft superficial. Gram and pulse of every kind not other.wise enumerated, 9d per 1001b. ton wh eil ground or in any way manufactored, Is per 1001b, Malt, 2s per bushel. Peas, split, Is per cwt. Hops, 6d per lb. Iron fencing wire, staples, and standards, 203 per ton. ' Iron, galvanised, corrugated sheets, «utternig, ridging, and spouting, screws, "ails, washors, and wire netting, 40a per ton. "' Iron tanks, 5s each, Matches of all kinds, 25 per cent ad valorem, Milk, preserved, 15 per cent ad valorem, Wails, 3s per cwt. Perfumery and toilet preparations not otherwise enumerated, 25 per cent ad valorem Proprietary medicines, commonly called patent medicines, or any medicine or preparation of which the recipe is kept secret, recommended by advertisement, bill, or label, for the relief « any disorder or ailment. 25 per cent ad valorem, Timber, sawn, rough, 2s per 100 ft super. iiimw, savn, dressed, 4s per 100 ft super shingles and laths, 2s per 1000. limber, palings, 2s per 100. limber, posts, Baper 100. limber, rails, 4s per 100 oak, 20s per ton.

owrits, or strong waters, not being mixed or sweetened with any article, so that he degree of strengtli thereof cannot be ascertained by Syke's hydrometer, tor every gallon 0 f the strength of proof by such hydrometer, and so in proportion for any greater or less strength than the strength of proof, 14s per gallon, Spirits—Other spirits, being sweetened or mixed so that the degree of strength cannot be ascertained as aforesaid. 14s per gallon Liquers and cordials, 14s per gallon Perfumed spirits and Cologne water, 21s per gallon Tobacco, 3s Gd per lb Ciga.s and cigarettes, 6s per lb Wine, other than sparkling and Australian os pergallon AH articles not' otherwise enumerated winch are now chargeable with duty at 10 per cent, ad valorem, 15 per cent advalorem.